Shoutcast

Many radio broadcasters will feel baffled when they log into their shoutcast dnas admin only to find an error message stating that “there is no auth hash” or the stream is “not public”. This simply means that the station has not been fully registered with shoutcast and will not display in the directory until the authhash has been created. Some people may feel that they don’t want or need to be listed in the directory, if that is the case with your radio station then please ignore this tutorial.

To create an authhash you need to do the following two things.

First log in to your control panel and click settings —> click the “Server Overrides” tab and change the status for Public to ‘always’

After you have set that, please restart your server for the change to take effect.

The next step you need to create an auth hash. This is simply a registration with shoutcast.com - To do this please log in to the citrus3 control panel and click the ‘admin’ link on the left hand side. A new page will now appear for your server settings.

Next click ‘Server Login’ in the top right corner and use ‘admin’ as the username and use the same password which you would use to log in to the Citrus3 control panel.

Once logged in, click ‘Create Authhash’ and follow the instructions by filling in all the relevant fields about your radio station. Your auth hash will now be created and your stream public. You will be listed in the shoutcast directory shortly after.

As enjoyable as it may seem to upload files via the control panel. Some customers however may find themselves having issues when the mp3 file is over 100MB in size or encoded in a particular format.

Many DJs who encode their radio shows in 1 hour + longer segments will find themselves with a large mp3 file and in most cases the files will not upload using the online uploader. The main reason for this is stability. We want our customers to upload their media successfully and without any corruption along the way, for this reason we have a cap set on the control panel uploader.

What to do instead?

Use an FTP client.

You can download an FTP Client by carrying out a google search for ‘FTP Client’.

At citrus3 we use a free client called filezilla. A google search for “filezilla client” will take you to their official download page. Once you have the ftp client installed you will need three details.

IP/Host – Same as shown in your welcome email

Username – Same as what you use to log into the citrus3 control panel

Port – Leave this blank (some clients use the port which they are given for broadcasting and this will NOT work!)

Password – This is your password which you use to log in to the shoutcast dnas or your control panel.

Once you have those details set up in your ftp client you can go right ahead and connect to your server. With filezilla and nearly every other ftp client you will be shown the folders where you can upload after you have connected. In this case you need to upload to the MEDIA folder. Please note.. adding new folders will not work. All files MUST be placed into the media folder.

You can now drag and drop your media into the media folder and once the transfer is complete you can log into your control panel and continue the setup of your radio playlist using the media which you just uploaded using the FTP client.

Here is a list of free ( and paid ) FTP clients which can be downloaded right away

Filezilla: https://filezilla-project.org

SmartFTP: https://www.smartftp.com

CoffeeCup: www.coffeecup.com/free-ftp

ServU: www.serv-u.com/ftpvoyager

FireFTP: fireftp.net

If you have any more questions regarding FTP or uploading media to your centova autoDJ system please contact a radio expert via the following link: http://citrus3.com/contact.php

What you are experiencing is called stream “buffer buildup”. This is where data is required to be stored into your Shoutcast server first before it is pushed forward to listeners. Typically when broadcasting at 128KBPS, the delay should be no longer than 20 seconds. This is not a bad thing, but simply the way that shoutcast technology works. The reasons its a good thing is because it stores 20+ seconds of data first, so if you were to have an accident and your connection dropped for up to 20 seconds, no listeners would be lost. If this data wasn’t stored, your server would drop connection and all listeners along with it.

With a growing internet radio market and a new market now being born for radio automation to be carried out directly from a studio computer which will you choose? We have compiled a guide of the most popular software which works in conjunction with our servers.

It is possible that we have missed something out in this guide, and so if your software is not on this list, it is important that you find out wether the software supports “shoutcast” server technology. This is the platform which we use, and anything which has the shoutcast option will connect and broadcast via our servers.

The king of all broadcasting tools. The official shoutcast dsp plugin is the most stable and resource friendly encoder available. With an easy to set up interface, abundant information and help available via shoutcast forums this really is the way to go if you have a windows computer, and do not require special automation features. This is as basic as it gets, buts its free and easy to set up.

A perfect tool for those who do not have a windows computer, BUTT is the leading and only free encoder for a Mac. The only downside is that it does not come with anything to play your music from, however that is not a problem at all, because you can play your music from any audio source that you like, iTunes, vlc player, real player, or even from your web browser using a service such as spotify or deezer. BUTT comes with a fully working encoder compatible with both v1 and v2 shoutcast servers, and it provides the option to select which audio source you want to broadcast from.

We mentioned that winamp and shoutcast dsp are the king of encoders. Now SAM is quiet simply the king of radio automation. This fully featured product should be installed on the computer of any professional radio broadcaster. With features to scream for including complete scheduling, audio pipeline configuration, playlist automation, and the use of multiple encoders at the same time, this quiet simply is the best radio broadcasting tool for any windows broadcast enthusiast and professional.

Nicecast is another stand alone encoder for the Apple Mac. This encoder comes with the choice of selecting the exact source of audio. You can select any software to broadcast from, so for example if you are playing music from your iTunes library, and talking via Skype, you can simply select the audio source to come from just those two applications. This simplicity and ease of use comes with a price tag, and for $59 it sure is worth it.

Virtual DJ is a virtual studio for DJs who like to mix their music. It is a complete studio tool without as much automation when compared to SAM broadcaster, however with the added bonus of mixing and “beat matching” your tracks. The software features virtual turntables which is great for broadcasters of electronic and dance music. Virtual DJ also includes shoutcast encoders which means its good to go out of the box to connect to our servers. For those of you who do not want to pay $299 virtual DJ offers a monthly subscription based licence for $19 per month.

Radio DJ is developed as a free to use and complete radio automation system much like what SAM offers however it is completely free. Though we have not used it or spoken to many of our own clients using the software, we think it is ideal for those starting out and who require scheduling for the live broadcasts. Being free it may be buggy compared to software which you pay for, however lets not judge. Its there for free and if you do not have $299 to invest in radio automation then Radio DJ is the way to go.

All of the software mentioned above requires you to have a shoutcast hosting service available. For quality shoutcast hosting for your radio station please visit us at http://www.citrus3.com

So we have had a lot of clients recently requesting if we are able to support shoutcast v1. The main reason being is that there is no option in traditional broadcasting encoders and radio automation software like SAM to input a username which SHOUTcast v2 requires. With that being said it is clear that a lot of stream hosting providers are not educated well enough to work out how SHOUTcast v2 works behind the scenes and what is required to make SHOUTcast v2 work on software like BUTT, SAM broadcaster, or even Nicecast. There is a very simple solution to to making these applications successfully connect to a SHOUTcast v2 server without the need for any kind of add on or complicated solution.

So as we mentioned when configuring BUTT, SAM, or Nicecast to connect to your server you are simply presented with the classic shoutcast v1 fields. This includes IP/Host address, port number, and password. But SHOUTcast v2 requires a username too in order to work. Here is what you need to do:

Enter the server IP, and server port as normal. Then in the password field enter your username, yep thats right your username, followed by a colon (:) followed by your password. So if for example my username was amazeradio and my password was helloworld I would enter in the password field the following: amazeradio:helloworld

Pretty simple. I hope this short post has explained and cleared things up for those that were not aware of this. It really is much better to work with the latest technology such as SHOUTcast 2 as this will help a lot in the long run and is much more stable wether you are broadcasting live from a computer or using an autoDJ system.

For high quality shoutcast hosting and internet radio solutions please visit us at Citrus3

We are now offering the latest Centova Cast control panel with all new accounts:

Whether you’re a ShoutCast newbie or a seasoned streaming professional, Centova Cast makes it easy to configure your stream. In addition to providing total control over your streaming server, Centova Cast also provides comprehensive autoDJ system.

When enabled, clients may upload their media (MP3s, etc.) directly to the server via FTP, manage their media through Centova Cast’s comprehensive AJAX Media Library system (described in the following slide), and schedule their media using Centova Cast’s advanced playlist scheduling system (also described on an upcoming slide).

This provides a complete, all-in-one solution for setting up an Internet radio station.

Centova Cast’s AJAX media library brings a familiar, desktop-style media management interface to the web.Media can be searched or browsed by artist, album, title, or genre. Tracks can be added to a playlist simply by dragging and dropping them on the desired playlist. This drag-and-drop functionality can be used to instantly schedule the selected tracks to play at a given time, or on a repeating schedule.

Centova Cast supports multiple playlists for each stream. Each playlist can be configured individually to control precisely how and when it will be played — at a specific time, on a repeating schedule, or on a rotation schedule with support for ranking by popularity (known as “weighting”).

Centova Cast provides the most comprehensive streaming radio statistics system commercially available today. It provides information about listener trends and demographics, data transfer, track performances and popularity, user agents, and much, much more.

Average session length is charted and graphed, and top listeners are ranked according to listener minutes and number of sessions. Listener countries are automatically determined, and the software used by the listener to tune into the stream is noted and identified as a media player or stream ripper to assist in abuse detection.

Top user agents are charted and graphed according to listener minutes and number of sessions. Each user agent is also classified as a legitimate media player (such as WinAmp, iTunes, etc.), or a stream ripper (a program used to steal music from your stream) to assist in abuse detection.

We get this question a lot recently. Its actually a really good way to get traffic flowing to your radio station easily.

Its all automatic and as long as your radio station is set to “public” in your live encoder or your auto DJ system, you will be placed in their directory automatically. However you need to be in the SHOUTcast top 500 stations. This means your stream needs to be pulling in on average 50 simultaneous listeners throughout the day.

We have gone 100% green and have eliminated using any data centers not following this practice. All SHOUTcast servers are powered by 100% wind energy.

Our energy supplier is Hydro Québec, whose electricity production is100% renewable, and 98% from hydroelectricity. Hydroelectricity only produces just 4 grams of CO2 per Kwh of electricity. That’s 56% less CO2 than wind energy, and less than 1% of that of natural gas and coal. In Québec electricity generation represents just 1% of all Green House Gas emissions, versus 32.5% in the USA.

We use high-tech free cooling technology to cool two of our data centers, cooling your servers using the cold Canadian winter air. Average temperatures in Montreal are significantly lower than most of the United States, with average minimum temperatures below freezing for five months of the year.

Server energy usage is lower depending on the level of server stress, dropping to less than 50% of the maximum energy utilization depending on traffic.

Follow these easy steps to get a free shoutcast flash player. The player uses JWplayer technology and works with our services and is free to use with other shoutcast hosting providers.

Simply take the code below and paste it into your website html where you would like the player to be displayed. Once you paste the code change the servernetwork:port to your server network name or IP and the port you are using e.g. (lime.citrus3.com:8000) :

The auth hash is a file located in the server dnas which tells the shoutcast directory that you want to make your station public on their directory. It also includes your stream info such as radio station name, url of your radio station website, and the genre of your broadcast. If you don’t have an auth hash and you attempt to broadcast as “public” set in your encoder your stream will fail and you will not be able to listen via a media player until you switch back to “private” (or create the auth hash)

To create the authhash you will first need to start broadcasting, switch on your live encoder or your auto DJ, BS make sure your shoutcast server is running. Simply login to your server dnas. To login to your dnas use your server IP and port. If your server is lemon.cirus3.com and the port 8000 then you would visit http://lemon.citrus3.com:8000/admin.cgi (make sure you go to admin.cgi WITHOUT ANYTHING after .CGI) and login using admin as your username and the “administration” password provided in the control panel. Once logged in simply click create authhash and fill in your station details.

You can now start your encoders and continue streaming public with your station being listed.